Cardano Marketing 101: A Guidebook of Best Practices and Practical Tips to Encourage Greater Adoption.

Prepared for the Cardano community by Sequoia @ FunnelAmp.com

Version 1.0 – 09/18/2024
https://funnelamp.com/cardano/marketing-guide/

What, Why, Who

This guidebook is written to introduce marketers of any experience level to basic principles and best practices that will be practical as they approach creating marketing strategies to amplify the Cardano brand and promote and advertise Cardano-based products and services.

Why

Cardano is an incredible blockchain, carefully built from the ground up based on years of peer-reviewed research to be scalable, secure, and decentralized. Despite its pedigree, it’s struggled to attract the positive attention it deserves in a fast-paced and highly competitive market. This guide is written to help would-be marketers avoid common mistakes and increase the odds of success as they promote Cardano and Cardano-based products to target audiences.

Who

This guidebook is intended for anyone interested in successfully marketing Cardano or the products and services that exist in its ecosystem.

And a quick note about links…

This guide contains some third-party links to suggested tools or additional reading. None of these links are paid or affiliate placements and are simply provided for the reader’s benefit.

Introduction

As Cardano enters its next stage of evolution—becoming the first completely community-managed blockchain—many ideas are being discussed about how best to market the protocol to a wider user base. To ensure these ideas have the highest probability of being feasible, it’s necessary to disseminate a collection of best marketing practices to Cardano enthusiasts. 

The intent of this guidebook is to act as a convenient go-to resource for marketers wanting to get going quickly on building a successful strategy. It lists common mistakes made by marketers of all experience levels, provides basic tried and true principles that can help avoid them, and assembles a collection of resources to support you as you plan your next Cardano marketing campaign. 

In writing this guide, the author is aware that some marketers will promote the Cardano blockchain itself, while others will be marketing projects, Dapps, and services built using the chain’s technology. In either case, the easiest low-effort way to get more people interested in Cardano is to remember to include a simple mention of the blockchain on marketing assets, such as the chain’s logo and the line “Powered by Cardano,” similar to how it’s displayed at the bottom of this website.

Please note, however, that the Cardano Foundation is the legal owner of the Cardano trademarks, which consist of the Cardano name and logos. This means that there may be restrictions on how you can use these assets. More details about safely using the Cardano trademark are provided in chapter 5 of this guidebook; 3 Simple Ways to Unify and Strengthen Cardano’s Brand Image.

Lastly, please note that this is a living document. That means feedback from the Cardano community is welcome and that periodic updates will be made to account for changing trends and new technologies that have a significant impact on current marketing principles. If you have something you think is worth adding to the guide, you can find a Google Doc version of the guidebook at this link where you can leave your comments for consideration in future versions. 

Happy reading and best wishes on your next marketing campaign!

Terms to Know

Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)

Marketing

Marketing Strategy

Pay-Per-Click (PPC)

Pain Points

Target audience

ROI (Return on Investment)

Value Proposition

Top 6 Mistakes Made by Marketers (and How to Avoid Them)

You might assume that marketing missteps are only made by novices. This is far from the case. Even seasoned marketers working for major brands like Pepsi, Sony, and Burger King have slipped up, causing revenue losses and public embarrassment. Often, these errors result from poor research and ignorance about what resonates with a target audience, which leads us to the first and perhaps most critical mistake marketers sometimes make:

1. Building marketing strategies based on assumption instead of data.

Building a marketing strategy without quality data is like throwing darts at a board blindfolded and hoping to hit the bullseye. Such an approach can quickly burn through precious marketing dollars and cause problems that leave a brand struggling to survive. Some examples of what this mistake might look like include:

1. Proposing expensive marketing actions without doing enough research to know if they will work or if cheaper alternatives would work just as well, if not better.
2. Failing to conduct competitor or market research to know if what you’re promoting is innovative or meets a need not adequately addressed in the market.
3. Assuming that a marketing strategy that worked in one industry will work exactly the same in another.
4. And probably the biggest data blunder of all: not gathering enough research about the wants and needs of your target audience.

2. Failing to define a target audience or ICP.

If you’ve ever heard the saying “a solution looking for a problem,” that can adequately describe thousands of products and services launched each year whose creators failed to first determine who needed what they had to sell and what problem their offering solved. 

As a start, a marketer should at least know their target audience—a broader group of potentially interested parties that will be receptive to your marketing. From there, you gain more precision by defining one or several ICPs (Ideal Customer Profile). Defining an ICP is almost like a cheat code: once you’ve completed this essential task, every other choice you make in your marketing will come together like matching pieces in a puzzle.

Key components of a well-defined ICP will include the following details:

• Demographic Data. Depending on whether or not the target audience is a business or an individual buyer, this information will encompass details like age, gender identity, location, industry, company size, and employee headcount. 
• Psychographic Data. This information covers details such as an ICP’s short-term and long-term goals, for instance, wanting to take a course to improve a career path, or using a decentralized application (Dapp) to complete a monetary transaction. It also includes other things, such as a person or organization’s values and beliefs (missions, philosophies, and culture.)
• Behavioral Data. These details cover information like what products an ICP already uses and how they use them, purchasing patterns, what social media they prefer, and problems they are seeking to solve.
• Budget and Spending Power. This information covers an ICP’s income, budget allocated for spending on products or services, and their willingness to purchase what you sell.

Building a really comprehensive ICP requires several more data points in addition to the ones listed above. For convenience, I’ll point readers to this packet of customer profile templates prepared by HubSpot. (Note, you will be prompted to provide an email address to access this resource.)

3. Ignoring ICP feedback and the customer experience.

If there is another “cheat code” that can make running an optimized marketing campaign a lot easier, it’s gathering feedback from your target audience, yet marketers often ignore this opportunity. Think about it: the people or organizations you wish to serve will be able to tell you best if you’re hitting the mark with your offer or failing at your marketing mission.

Feedback from ICPs and target audiences is gold; by asking for it, you show customers and end users that you value their opinions, which helps build customer loyalty.

Some examples of feedback that can help you upgrade the quality of your campaign include questions about your ICP’s specific problems and pain points, feedback about your application or website’s UI/UX, and asking how and where your target audience first learned about your brand.

Some key places in a marketing campaign where you should consider asking for ICP feedback include:

• At the start of the campaign. Sending a survey to a target audience before building a marketing campaign can do wonders to improve the quality of your strategy.
• After early engagement. An engagement is any action an ICP takes with a brand as a result of marketing. Early engagement can include things like making a first purchase, joining a mailing list, or completing an onboarding process. Gathering early engagement data allows a marketer to optimize and improve the performance of an ongoing campaign.
• After the marketing campaign. After completing your marketing campaign, surveying key stakeholders allows you to gather data about what worked and what didn’t so the next campaign you build is even better.

There’s tons of information online about how and what to ask your audience to get the most valuable data for your specific marketing goals. To save you time searching, I’m including a few helpful links here for you to explore:

• What is a Net Promoter Score?
• How to Select a Target Audience For Your Online Survey
• 28 Customer Feedback Questions for Customer Surveys

4. Underestimating the cost of marketing.

When marketers don’t account for the realistic cost of advertising and promotion, they put their entire marketing strategy at risk of failure. A shortfall in cash means strategies can’t be adequately tested, enough actionable data can’t be collected, and the impact and reach of a campaign will be limited.

An example baseline for what a marketer can consider to be an adequate budget is provided by serial entrepreneur, Alex Hormozi. He suggests any business making under $1 million USD a year should spend $100 a day on advertising. This amounts to $36,500 annually, a reasonable budget for many small businesses or smaller-scale marketing campaigns.

While you may not know the exact cost of all marketing activity until you launch your campaign and see how it performs, every good marketer should start with a cost estimate based on readily available information. Some examples of this type of information include:

• Knowing the goal of your marketing campaign. For example, I want to attract x number of new subscribers to my Dapp in x number of months.
• Knowing the scope of your campaign. Example: I want to target people who use x social media platform who live in x city or country.
• Knowing the cost of paying for fulfillment partners and types of advertising. Make a complete list of the service providers you plan to partner with to fulfill your campaign, such as content developers, SEO specialists, and website designers, and contact them for standard and estimated pricing.

  With advertising like Google Search Ads or social media Pay-Per-Click ads, you will be dealing with fluctuating costs. You can conduct a quick Internet search using a phrase like “(current year) cost of Google search ads” to receive a general suggested budget. You can also use a free online advertising calculator to give you an idea of what you will need to spend.

5. Failing to track performance metrics.

Say you did a great job gathering research data before building and launching your campaign. Data collection and analysis doesn’t end there; now, your effort has to include measuring the performance of your ongoing marketing activity.

Performance metrics are vital for gauging success and spotting weaknesses in a campaign. By establishing baselines and tracking outcomes, you attain a clearer view of your ROI (return on investment) and improve your ability to plan for future marketing expenses.

Some specific adverse outcomes that can occur from failing to track the performance of your marketing activities include:

• Missed opportunities. Without tracking key performance indicators (KPIs), you cannot catch issues with a campaign before they cause a huge problem. You’re also unable to see what’s working really well so that you can dedicate more resources to a winning strategy.
• Lack of accountability. Accountability is especially crucial when contracting out parts of your campaign to other marketing professionals. Anyone spending your marketing budget needs to be able to show proof that they are meeting agreed-upon goals and KPIs. Without accountability, a marketing budget can quickly go up in smoke with nothing to show for it.
• Poor decision-making. As we already touched on earlier in this list, gathering data is like turning on the lights in a dimly lit room. It gives you clarity so you can make smarter decisions as you allocate budget and develop strategies. Without proper data, you’re just guessing.

So, what performance metrics should you track? The KPIs that are measured will be unique to each campaign, business, and marketer. Some of the most common ones include social media engagement metrics such as likes, shares, and comments, online traffic to an app or website, ROI, conversion rates, or CPA (cost per acquisition). For your convenience, here is a resource for you to study that goes deep into the topic of measuring marketing performance metrics.

6. Inconsistent branding and messaging.

As soon as a business launches into the market, it enters a war for the hearts, minds, and attention spans of its target customers. Businesses whose brands feature lots of inconsistencies like ever-changing mission statements, randomly selected fonts and colors, or scattered customer resources risk creating obstacles to gaining the recognition needed to grow and thrive. Some of the specific problems that can come from inconsistent branding include:

• Low brand recognition. When a brand’s appearance and mission keep changing, customers and supporters can’t build a relationship with a business or remember its Value Proposition.
• Marketplace confusion. Inconsistencies in branding and mission can confuse a target audience about what a brand specializes in and what it stands for.
• Failed marketing campaigns. Marketing is a continuous process of wooing a target audience and compelling them to take action. Inconsistent branding leads to a lack of cohesiveness in promotion efforts, which means that marketing campaigns can fail to gain traction and build upon previous efforts.
• Lost customer trust. Trust is vital when asking ICPs to invest time or money into your product or service. Disjointed branding and messaging make a business look unprofessional and like it lacks lasting power. Buying into such a company puts a customer’s time and money at risk.

3 Simple Ways to Unify and Strengthen Cardano’s Brand Image

Cardano faces a unique challenge as a decentralized community-managed asset since virtually anyone interested in launching and marketing products on the chain can. This naturally means that a range of brands, products, and services will be represented under the Cardano umbrella. However, just like with any global enterprise with multiple branches and product verticals, cohesiveness can be attained by following a few key practices:

Stay true to Cardano’s core mission.

Straight from the Cardano.org website:

Cardano is a blockchain platform for changemakers, innovators, and visionaries, with the tools and technologies required to create possibility for the many, as well as the few, and bring about positive global change.

The more closely aligned a business, product, or initiative aligns with this mission statement, the better job it will do promoting Cardano.

Wherever possible, use Cardano’s branding assets.

As stated further up in this guidebook, the simplest thing any marketer can do to help promote Cardano is to remember to add the logo on relevant products and promotional content. The Cardano.org website has a brand asset link where marketers can download the iconic Cardano logo and include it in various marketing materials. 

Please note, however, while the foundation supports community use, there may be restrictions on how these trademarks can be used in your projects, Dapps, and Services branding, and in certain cases, express written permission from the Cardano Foundation may be required. To avoid any issues, review the Cardano Foundation’s trademark policy before using the Cardano name or logo on your products.

Embrace interoperability and partnership. 

Cardano was built to be an interoperable blockchain. That means it’s a good thing when we see projects launched on Cardano spread out to other chains or allow other chains to interact on Cardano-based applications. Despite this, community members sometimes become upset when this natural progression occurs. It’s understandable: the chain is beloved by its supporters, and that can breed over-protectiveness.

The ultimate goal of blockchain technology is to solve real-world problems for humanity, and removing obstacles to that goal should be embraced for efficiency’s sake. From a marketing point of view, getting more eyes from other blockchain communities on Cardano is good for brand recognition. Lean into it and get the word out about what you’ve built to more people!

Know Cardano’s Target Audiences

Given its broad range of capabilities, Cardano has an extensive potential audience. Who Cardano is targeted to can depend on who you’re speaking with; some feel it should be specifically pushed toward governments and institutions, while others think consumer gaming and real-world-asset management are use cases that can drive greater adoption.

As a robust decentralized protocol it’s likely that anyone who wants to push the edges of the chain’s capabilities can do so and gain traction with a target audience. That being said, if a marketer wants to follow a more straightforward strategy based on the protocol’s stated mission and the type of projects most commonly deployed on it at this time, below are a few top-level audiences that you may find useful as starting points.

Developers

Cardano is attractive to developers who want to use a blockchain with easy scalability, excellent security, and proven stability for deploying smart contracts and Dapps. A notable obstacle Cardano has faced in wooing this target audience is the complexity of its core programming language (Haskell). Marketing to this audience requires educating them about the addition of features like Aiken, Marlowe, and Plutus that allow for more accessible programming and writing scripts in popular languages like JavaScript, Typescript, and PHP.

Businesses

Cardano’s stated mission of creating a blockchain for changemakers, innovators, and visionaries aligns well with this target audience. With a broader swath of developers now able to program on Cardano, this naturally opens up more opportunities for businesses to tap the chain’s core features. Just a few things businesses can accomplish with Cardano include supply chain tracking, inventory management, product authentication, customer relationship management, payment processing, interoperability with other chains and technology, new product creation, decentralized data storage, and real-world asset management.

Governments and Institutions

Cardano’s security, innovations like Atala Prism, and its focus on supporting the management of sovereign identities have made it attractive to governments worldwide. This interest includes utilizing it as an underlying technology for national ID systems, election transparency, and financial operations. Its focus on decentralized governance also allows stakeholders to fully deploy democratic decision-making processes that support inclusivity and higher civic participation.

Education

Cardano was born from academia, so unsurprisingly, it has a natural affinity with this audience. Its identity management features are a great fit for educators, and by using the blockchain, individuals or institutions can issue tamper-proof digital diplomas and easily manage student credentials at scale. Educators can also use the chain’s technology to deploy gamified upskilling programs to encourage course participation and implement peer-to-peer coaching without the need for third-party facilitators.

Fintech

Cardano’s security, scalability, low-cost transactions, transparency, and commitment to regulatory compliance make it an excellent fit for financial institutions. Its advances in identity management also provide financial entities with a robust solution for meeting know-your-customer (KYC) requirements.

Researchers and Data Analysts

With the recent partnership between Cardano and Midnight, researchers and data analysts make a prime target audience to take advantage of the partnership’s ground-breaking use case. When handling sensitive Personal Identifiable Information or PII, researchers can risk steep fines and legal action if PII data like medical records are leaked or re-linked with data owners. Midnight, with the aid of Cardano, provides robust data anonymization capabilities which make sensitive datasets safer to work with.

Consumers and End-Users

Cardano’s core interest in democratizing finance and bringing blockchain technology to “unbanked” populations has earned it a reputation as a conscientious blockchain owned by the community. This stands in contracts with other chains owned and controlled by a few powerful stakeholders. Its initial token distribution, low barrier to entry for staking and earning $ADA, and large distributed network of PoS staking nodes underlined its adherence to this principle, while the recent completion of its Chang Hard Fork made it official.

Much of the target market for Cardano appears to be B2B (business-to-business) oriented; however, a marketer should keep this chain’s focus on community top-of-mind, especially when targeting consumers and end-users. This sentiment has proven to be a powerful draw that’s attracted a very loyal following that has supported Cardano since it officially launched in 2017.

Tips for Counteracting Negative Cardano Press

If you’re new to crypto and blockchain, fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) is a term you will soon become acquainted with. Due to the hyper-competitive and comparatively under-regulated nature of the crypto industry there are persistent attempts by competing stakeholders to manipulate news and information to sway users’ and blockchain investors’ behavior. As a result, the spread of FUD is sometimes used as a tactic to ping the reputations of other chains; knowing this, it’s a good idea for a marketer wading into this industry to have a defense strategy in place. Below are a few suggestions to help.

Know Cardano’s value proposition and elevator pitch.

At first glance, this appears to be a pretty straightforward exercise, but all it takes is a stroll through the Cardano.org About page to realize that this chain has many potential problems it can solve. While this is a beautiful thing, it can also make pinning down a short, sweet elevator pitch a challenge.

Why do you need to know this? With so many blockchains to choose from in a highly competitive industry, it’s inevitable that your choice will be questioned. Part of marketing Cardano is being able to succinctly and clearly explain why you use the technology to both technical and non-technical audiences.

Philippe, operator of the SCAR Cardano stake pool, discusses this exact challenge in a 3-minute YouTube video. For a deeper dive into Cardano’s value proposition, along with a comparison between Bitcoin and Ethereum’s value props, this article from Investopedia does a competent job. Below, I take a go at summarizing what Cardano has to offer. Feel free to use the pitch as-is or for inspiration.

Cardano is a third-generation blockchain backed by rigorous academic research and military-grade security. Using a Proof-of-Stake consensus model, it focuses on providing businesses, institutions, and individuals with a decentralized, scalable, and interoperable solution for financial transactions, asset management, and sovereign identities.

Focus on creating a positive customer experience.

Once you begin advertising that you’re using Cardano-based technology, you are essentially an ambassador for the Cardano brand. Make sure your offering is focused on giving end-users a positive experience so they become word-of-mouth influencers. Win customers’ loyalty by ensuring user interfaces are clean and easy to navigate, the customer journey is streamlined and personalized, and collect user feedback to make updates and improvements where feasible.

If you’ve accomplished something great using Cardano, share it with the world!

Your success is also a win for the Cardano ecosystem and everyone who supports the chain. Share what you’ve created on all of your social media channels. If your accomplishment would pique the interest of journalists, invest in a press release campaign. Definitely share your good news with your mailing list subscribers, and reach out to Cardano influencers and influencers in other industries that share an affinity with your brand, service, or product; they may be interested in mentioning your brand or even interviewing you.

Point people to TapTools.io and other “proof of life” resources.

Few blockchains have escaped being hit by FUD, but those in the top 10 to 20 tend to draw the most scrutiny. As an example, Bitcoin has been repeatedly criticized as being bad for the environment, and some critics have panned Ethereum’s recent implementation of proof-of-stake as a failed upgrade.

Cardano has faced its own challenges in the FUD pits, particularly being labeled a “ghost chain” despite meeting every milestone in its development roadmap and boasting over 150 active Dapps and a thousand-plus projects in development. In areas where other blockchains draw the most heat, like stability and security, Cardano easily holds its own; however, the rumor that little is happening on the chain seems pervasive. Below are several resources you can use to dispel this misinformation:

• TapTools.io – TapTools.io is a well-established explorer largely used by traders to get a quick overview of what products and projects are deployed on the Cardano blockchain. Users are also able to view current prices, trading volume, and market liquidity for Cardano projects.
• Development Updates – Essential Cardano is a portal maintained by Input Output Global. In addition to a range of other valuable resources, the site hosts a Developments Update page with detailed weekly reports of development activity occurring on the chain.
• GitHub Commits – A high number of commits to a GitHub repository is a good sign that active development is taking place on a chain, and Cardano consistently has some of the highest commits in the blockchain industry. CardanoUpdates.com allows visitors to easily view a 7-day summary of Cardano developers’ activity.
• CardanoCube – This resource lists all active projects on the chain, and visitors can filter projects by categories like Defi, Developer Tools, Gaming, Governance, NFT, and more.
• Project Catalyst Explorer – Over a thousand past and current projects funded through Cardano’s decentralized grant program, Project Catalyst, can be reviewed using this tool hosted by Lido Nation.

Ignore the FUD – just build!

Focusing on fighting FUD can be distracting; if that’s the case for you, just continue to build great things using this innovative blockchain, and remember to tell the world every time you win or meet a worthwhile milestone.

Cardano Resources to Help Support Your Marketing Strategy

• Project Catalyst – The ecosystem’s decentralized project fund. Projects can apply for grants paid out in $ADA, and the community votes to determine who wins funding.
• Intersect Marketing Working Group (MWG) – Intersect is a membership-based organization that encourages community development and maintains the Cardano blockchain. The MWG is a subgroup of Intersect focused on amplifying Cardano’s brand presence. 
• Cardano Influencers – These are people who are vocal supporters of the blockchain and have followings on various social media platforms. They are often looking for good Cardano-based projects to promote. Promotion may be free or paid. A few examples are Dap Central, Late Game Crypto, Convincing Crypto, Cardano With Paul, and Learn Cardano.
• Cardano News Platforms – Reach out to press resources within the community to get the word out about your Cardano-based project, product, or service. An example is Cardano Spot, one of the ecosystem’s largest and most frequently updated news sites. 
• Events and Conferences – Conferences allow a range of marketing opportunities, including sponsorship, guest speaking, workshop presentations, and booth space. The largest and most notable in the Cardano space is the annual Cardano Summit. Another event that features Cardano, as well as other blockchains, is Rare Evo. 
• Cardano.org – If you need to brush up on any aspect of your Cardano blockchain knowledge before launching your next marketing campaign, the foundation’s website is a great go-to resource. 

5 Cost-Effective Marketing Methods for Budgets Under $30k

While a wide range of advertising and promotional activities can be used by Cardano marketers to engage a target audience, some methods will be better suited than others if the available budget is limited. For example, while PPC advertising can drive immediate results, it can also quickly become expensive if not managed by someone with specific expertise. The methods listed below have the potential to provide a higher ROI and create longer-lasting results than some other available options.

Email Marketing 

Other marketing channels have attempted to replace email marketing over the years (chatbots anyone?), but this method of engagement has proven to be a marketer’s favorite. The reason why? When done ethically (no scraped or purchased lists), it works extremely well. Some of the characteristics that have contributed to its staying power include:

• High ROI – On average, email marketing campaigns can net around $36 for every $1 spent or a ROI of 3500%.
• Permission-based – Unlike interruptive marketing methods like ads, ethical email marketing requires customer consent, which significantly increases its efficacy.
• The marketer owns the channel – Marketers who build mailing lists aren’t borrowing an audience like, for example when they build a social media following. Instead, they own the list and can move it independently between platforms.

Many email service providers (ESPs) offer freemium accounts, making it relatively easy to start and scale. However, a marketer must also recognize that to get the most from a mailing list, you have to incorporate other methods of marketing to attract subscribers. Read further to see more marketing methods to pair with email marketing.

Content Marketing

If you compare types of marketing by shelf-life, content marketing comes out on top. For example, a well-written blog post can continue to deliver value for two years or more. Comparatively, optimized PPC advertising has an average ROI of $2 for every $1 spent but only provides value for as long as you pay. 

A marketer using best practices can net a 277% ROI with content marketing, with the caveat that it often takes several weeks to months to see a return. How quickly a return is achieved will depend on the type of content used. Types of creative assets that fall under this category include blog articles, videos, infographics, ebooks, white papers, podcasts, webinars, case studies, and social media posts. 

SEO Marketing

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) focuses on applying best technical on-site and off-site practices to improve the search engine rank of a website and the written content it contains. While content marketing and SEO work synergistically, they are two separate categories, and like content marketing, SEO is a long-term strategy that takes several weeks to produce results. Like content marketing, it also has a healthy shelf-life with a potential ROI of over 12x marketing spend.

A  competent SEO marketing campaign can range around $500-$5000 a month. Depending on the service provider, this budget will cover the following activities:

• Website audit
• Keyword research
• On-page optimization
• Conversion rate optimization
• Backlink building

 It’s important to issue a caveat here: all SEO services are not created equally. There are “white hat” and “black hat” approaches to fulfilling this type of marketing. White hat focuses on quality, safety, and applying best practices that keep websites compliant with Google and other search engines’ standards.

Black hat methods cut corners and employ techniques designed to game search engine spiders for quick returns, but these same methods can get your website delisted from search engines. Always work with reputable service providers in this sector, and be prepared to pay for quality. If there is one area where you get what you pay for, it’s here.

Partnership Marketing

This marketing method involves joining forces with another business or influencer for mutual benefit. In most cases, the products or services being promoted do not compete with one another but instead, complement each other and enhance what can be offered to a target audience. Think of an NFT creator who partners with a digital display company.

The beauty of partnership marketing is that its benefits can often be attained at an extreme discount or at no cost at all; instead, you contribute sweat equity or allow a partner temporary access to a high-value asset such as a subscriber list or social media following in exchange for the value they bring to your audience.

Below are a few common examples of how brands capitalize on partnership marketing:

• Guest blogging
• Releasing co-branded products or services
• Participating as a guest on a podcast
• Presenting a webinar to subscribers of a partner’s list
• Non-profit cooperation
• Event sponsorship

Before engaging in partnership marketing, it’s worth conducting a comprehensive analysis of your current marketing strategy to determine what gaps exist and how a partner could possibly fill them. It’s also essential to take a sober look at your Value Proposition and how it could benefit a partner and the partner’s audience. For your convenience, a link to an article on Datadab.com is included here that goes into extensive detail about this marketing method and how to get the most out of it. 

Press Releases (Public Relations)

With the wide variety of media channels at a digital marketer’s disposal, the question of a press release’s value sometimes comes up. Are press releases old news? Far from it—just like email, they remain a battle-tested viable asset in the marketer’s toolkit.

As proof, a recent survey of over 3,000 journalists revealed that 74% of respondents preferred to receive press releases over any other type of media. This shows how vital a role this asset plays in allowing marketers to communicate directly with a community of stakeholders in a prime position to help amplify messaging to target audiences. Additionally, press releases are beneficial for helping websites earn valuable SEO backlinks, expanding audience reach, and build credibility and authority.

As valuable as press releases are, they will only be picked up by journalists if they are newsworthy. Also worth noting is they should not be relied upon as the only or primary resource in a marketing plan; they work best as part of a larger marketing strategy.

So, where do PPC and other types of digital advertising fit?

Digital advertising is valuable for quickly driving traffic to marketing assets like landing pages, generating interest over a prescribed period of time, like for special offers, or as part of a strategy to dominate a specific keyword category. Many variables can influence the cost of this type of marketing and cause it to fluctuate dramatically. Some of these influences include click fraud, competition for trending keywords, ad quality, and the industry that a brand inhabits.

Managing everything that can affect the price of a digital ad campaign requires a deft hand, continuous monitoring, and a healthy budget. Given these variables, digital advertising might not make the best sense as a long-term strategy for smaller budgets, especially compared to the ROI generated by other methods. For smaller budgets, it’s worth considering saving this type of marketing for testing sales and marketing funnels and implementing it as an amplifier after other marketing methods are producing a positive return.

Conclusion

I hope the reader is able to see all the potential pathways available to amplifying the Cardano brand.  While this guidebook is not intended to be the last word on how to market the chain, the intent is to arm anyone interested in marketing Cardano or Cardano-based products and services with enough information to start well and capture some early wins to build on. The information here is based on years of experience as an online marketer and research around what the Cardano blockchain has to offer.

Did you find this guidebook helpful? If so, show appreciation by sharing it with others, linking to it, or citing it in your next article or video. If you have something vital you think should be included, you can find a Google Doc version of the guide at this link where you can leave your comments for consideration in future versions.

Sequoia is a blockchain enthusiast, artist, and Lead Content Developer at www.FunnelAmp.com. With over 15 years of experience in web design, online marketing, research, and technical writing, she helps mission-driven businesses connect with target audiences, grow their customer bases, and create a world where high-impact solutions have an opportunity to contribute to the greater good.

As a contributor to the Cardano ecosystem, she has participated as a Community Reviewer in several funding rounds of Project Catalyst and writes educational articles about blockchain for people interested in learning about the industry. You can connect with Sequoia via LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/funnelamp/.

This marketing guide is intended solely for educational purposes and does not constitute legal, financial, or business advice. While it offers examples and strategies, no guarantee is made regarding their effectiveness or suitability for your specific circumstances. Each individual’s situation is unique, and the outcomes of the marketing methods discussed may vary significantly based on numerous factors. Readers are encouraged to conduct their own research and consult with qualified professionals before implementing any strategies. The author(s) do not assume any liability for decisions made based on the content of this guide. By engaging with this content, you acknowledge that you understand these limitations and agree to use this information at your own discretion.

Cardano Marketing 101: A Guidebook of Best Practices and Practical Tips to Encourage Greater Adoption. © 2024 by Sequoia @ FunnelAmp is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International